To no surprise, ABC’s Better Off Ted has been cancelled after two seasons on the air. Though it was a hit with critics and a devout group of fans, it just never found a mass audience.
Better Off Ted follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) and his fellow employees at Veridian Dynamics, a strange and heartless technology company. The rest of the cast includes Andrea Anders, Jonathan Slavin, Malcolm Barrett, and Portia de Rossi.
Last May, ABC decided to show some faith in the freshman sitcom and renewed Better Off Ted for a second season. At that time, the ratings weren’t great and they got even worse after the renewal announcement.
When the network began airing the remainder of season one during the summer months, they averaged a terrible 0.74 in the 18-49 demographic and 2.09 million viewers.
For season two, Ted debuted with a 1.5 rating in the demo and 3.82 million viewers. As bad as those numbers sound, they got even worse.
Paired with Scrubs, ABC decided to burn off the remaining episodes of Ted in January. Despite campaigning from some loyal fans, viewership hit a new low for the season — a 0.8 rating and 2.17 million viewers.
The writing’s been on the wall for a long time and realistically, based on the numbers, the TV show shouldn’t have been renewed for a second season. Many in the cast have taken other jobs and the series has now been cancelled by ABC.
What do you think? Many really loved this show but it never attracted a big audience. Why?
Image courtesy ABC.
I am devastated. ABC can be such jabberwokes, I can’t believe I wont be seeing anymore of Phil, I LOVED PHIL, and every single character. this show was Genius! It showed the truth evil side of corporations, made fun of it in an awesome ironic satirical way, and it was just funny, smart and down great show! the success of a TV show depends now days on h ow much they advertise a product and put it on peoples faces all the time, I was so sad that such and amazing show got almost nothing to none advertisement.
How does this get cancelled, yet these ridiculous Tyler Perry shows remain?!?!?!?!
This is bull. loved this show
My wife and I found this series through NetFlix, and we love it! We didn’t realize it was canceled until we were watching season two and looking for the third season. Sadly, no season three will be made. This show was creative and entertaining, and the combination of good writing and talented actors made it easy for viewers to feel a connection with the characters. With so many miserable sitcoms on the air that are better of dead, it’s incredibly disappointing that they found a way to kill “Better Off Ted.”
I just stumbled across Better off Ted on NetFlix and watched season 1 & 2 nearly straight through. I can’t believe that the ratings were so low. This is one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen. It ranks at the top of my list with 30 Rock & Arrested Development. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to hear it had been cancelled.
Agree with all points here. ABC are morons not to have recognized the awesomeness and genuinely unique potential of this show… How sad.
Of course it was cancelled! Who wants to watch a witty, clever, intelligent, perfectly acted, directed, photographed, costumed program? What were they thinking? They didn’t even have a laugh track, so I never knew when to laugh.
you forgot to mention the writing. this is the type of show you fund by using the money from your “dumb” shows. i never leave comments but i was sadden to find out the show was cancelled. spent all weekend watching season 2 then season 1 on netflix. i would love to see the out takes. How do the actors keep a straight face while delivering such well written banter? I got a good mind to go to NY and hit ABC over the head with a phone.
It is a very witty show. You need some brain to watch and get it. Apparently, mass Americans are not into intellecture, similar reason of W Bush got elected, TWICE, and Sara Palin is popular. The education of the entire nation needs to be improved. Otherwise, America is losing competitiveness to other country. We need some TV station which supported by none commercial (like PBS) and can keep things running even it is not popular.
this show was just amazing ! i hate tv so much but this show is the show i thought would get out there and make people laugh and put a little witty in there lives instead of watch those hows about ****** tan people with no personality and give me a head ack. better off ted was a great show and when i found out that they canceled i was really upset that people these day have lowered there standards so much that they would not know a good show even if was in front of them. im super sad.
My boyfriend and I also found “Better off Ted” on Netflix, which is where we watch all of our “TV”. We don’t even own a television. This is so sad. We loved this show, along with Pushing Daisies which also didn’t last long and is sorely missed. Mainstream TV channels are gearing more of their programming to “dumbed down America”. We have switched to sitcoms on Starz and watching BBC shows. Every once in awhile we find a series on Netflix and watch it straight through. But you can be sure that if my boyfriend and I love it… it… Read more »
Better Off Ted was one of the best shows to come out of ABC in a LONG time. You were idiots to cancel it. NO wonder no one watches your station anymore… Just because a comedy is smart, and witty, doesn’t mean you need to cancel it!!! We realize that the majority of Americans prefer things like Larry the Cable Guy.. but come on!!
I love Better Off Ted! My boyfriend and I watch and rewatch the episodes and have introduced several friends to the show. They have loved it too. An anonymous poster put that they watched it on Hulu and Netflix. Has anyone taken those ratings into account? It’s a smart show that seems to be geared towards people who are educated and most likely tech savvy, it makes sense that some would watch it through another medium. I just can’t believe that such a smart, witty, and creative show got cancelled after two seasons. Is it because american TV is dumbing… Read more »
They could have easier put in the lineup with the Middle, Modern Family, and Cougar Town… I bet it would have found an audience then. By Ted, you will be missed. =(
I found it on netflix too and thought it was hilarious. You don’t see a lot of shows like that anymore. I usually Hulu and netflix TV shows that way I avoid commercials and can see them when I have time. I bet if they took in to consideration all the people who netflix and hulu the show they would have seen that it was really popular.
there we go again…one more intelligent, clever, and worth watching show that I will see over and over again since I had to download the entire thing because it wasn’t even broadcast in Canada! I have 190 channels and this was the rare gem worth watching – and wasn’t even introduced to Canadian markets until the 2nd season was over. Noone knows what I’m talking about here, but the brain-sucking trash like the bachelor/bachelorette (that’s not even a real word, is it????) keep coming back on to insult us year after year. What’s worse, now the morons from those reality… Read more »